Buckle



(No Model.)

D. L. SMITH.

BUCKLE.

No. 439,436. Patented Oct. 28. 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DWIGHT L. SMITH, OF W'ATERBURY, CONN ECTICUT.

BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,436, dated October28, 1890.

Application filed May 19, 1890. Serial No. 352,354. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DWIGHT L. SMITH, of Waterbury, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented new Improvements inBuckles; and I do hereby de olare the following, when taken inconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in-

Figure 1, a front view of the buckle; Fig. 2, a rear view of the same;Fig. 3, a vertical section on line 00 0c of Fig. 1; Fig. at, the framedetached; Fig. 5, the lever detached; Fig. 6, the clamping-bar detached;Figs. '7 and 8, modifications.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of bucklesadapted for suspenders and similar garment purposes, and in which thebuckle is formed, principally, from wire, and particularly to that classin which engagement is made by a swinging lever, the object being asimple construction for the hinging of the lever to the frame; andtheinvention consists in the construction, as hereinafter described, andparticularly recited in the claim.

The frame, as seen in Fig. l, is made from a single piece of wire, andconsists of an upper bar a, a lower bar 19, and two ends 0 c. The lowerbar Z) is preferably bent so as to form a hook d as an integral partthereof. The two ends 0 c of the frame are each constructed withU-shaped inward bends, forming recesses 6, opening outward, the width ofthe recess thus formed between the two sides of the U beingsubstantially equal to the diameter of the wire employed in theformation of the lever. The lever is constructed as seen in Fig. 5. Itis made from wire, bent preferably so as to form an eyefto swing overthe hook d. At its upper end it is constructed with inwardly-turnedtrunnions g g, corresponding to the recesses e c formed in the side ofthe frame, as before described, and so as to set therein between the twosides of the said recesses e e, as seen in Fig. 3. A clampingjaw h ismade from sheet metal, this clamp being shown detached in Fig. (3. Thisbar is of a length corresponding to the distance between the two ends ofthe frame. Upon its upper side, at each end,is aprojectingtongue 'i,with corresponding projecting tongues Z upon the opposite or lower edge.Between these tongues Z Z the jaw is preferably serrated, as also seenin Fig. 6. After the lever has been set in place so as to bring thetrunnions or pivots g g into the recesses ea in the sides of the frame,the clamping-bar is set in place and so as to bring the ends of the barover the recesses e e and the pivots. Then the tongues i Z are bent andclosed around the inward projections forming the U-shaped recesses, asseen in Figs. 1, 2,and 3, and so as to inclose the said recesses e e andsecure the pivots of the lever therein, but yet leave the lever free toswing on said pivots toward and from the clamping-plate. In theformation of the lever it is bent so as to form a clamping-bar m,corresponding to the jaw h.

The invention is not to be understood as limited to producing theclamping-bar by means of the serrated jaw h and the bar on of the lever,as the lever also may be provided with a jaw-n, (see Fig. 7,) this jawbeing formed as a part of a sheet-metal plate 0, secured upon the faceof the lever and so as to coact with a correspondingly-shaped jaw h onthe body. In this case both the jaws n and hare turned toward eachother, as seen in Fig. 8.

I do not Wish to be understood as claiming, broadly, a buckle consistingof a wire frame constructed with inwardly-turned U-shaped bends in theends, as such, I am aware, is not new; but

\Vhat I do claim is- A buckle having a frame made from wire, composed ofthe upper bar a, the lower bar Z), and two ends 0 c, the said two endseach constructed with an inward U-shaped bend, forming recesses e c,opening outward, combined with a lever also made from wire, its twoupper ends turned inward to form pivots g g, corresponding to the saidrecesses e e in the ends of the frame, andasheet-metal clamp constructedwith tongues t' upon one side and Z upon the opposite side, closedaround said U-shaped projections and so as to inclose the said pivots inthe said recesses e, substantially as described.

DWIGHT L, SMITH.

Witnesses:

H. L. SLAUSON, JAMES STovELL.

